Hidden Tracks Cycling – Coached Skills Days
Anyone who can ride a bike on the road can ride on a trail – right?
Introducing Bike Skills Coaching days help you improve and hone those off road, gravel, mountain bike or cyclo-cross riding skills. Look in any park and you’ll see loads of people happily riding around the place. Surely, you don’t need coaching for off-road riding, it’s the same as riding on a road but with more bumpy bits, isn’t it?
Almost, in my park, everyone is having a lovely time because all the trails are nice and smooth, add in some nasties, technical trail features or TTFs in the jargon, aka, rocks, gullies, gravel and roots and it all changes. Agree, most people can tackle these TTFs at a low level (as on our Green and Blue rides) but it isn’t much fun when these obstacles get a bit more obstacley, for the uninitiated riding becomes slow, difficult, tiring, even slightly scary, I’ve seen the faces – it’s bad fun.
An experienced off-road rider is easy to spot, they effortlessly fly over all these wretched TTF’s with the grace of a gazelle, relaxed, losing little momentum, massive grins on faces. The exhilaration of flying down a rocky descent in control and at speed is overwhelming!
Many experienced road cyclists just annihilate me when on a road ride, absolutely no way baby, can I keep up with them when on the tarmac. However, I get my revenge off-road, on either gravel or mountain bike, it’s me waiting at the top of the hill feeling vindicated.
It’s the skills that does it!
There are technics to off-road riding, it doesn’t matter whether you are riding your old commuter bike, a mountain bike or even the gorgeous, reassuringly expensive gravel bike, if you don’t know the method you ain’t going to fly!
I’m an experienced and fully qualified British Cycling Coach (Level 2 with Cyclo-cross, MTB, Road and Time Trial – don’t you know – check it out here) and have spent years coaching, first kids with Herne Hill Youth CC, then teenagers, and now I’m organising and coaching regular skills sessions for Dulwich Paragon off-road Squad at the Herne Hill Velodrome.
I’ve formulated a series of all-day coached skill sessions, catering for all riders, from a day for Novices right up to a day for those wanting to start their racing career as an amateur Mountain bike, Cyclo-cross or Gravel racer.
They are easy-going fun days out, working on technic not miles, bouts of skills drills are interspaced with trail riding and include a stop at an idyllic country pub for lunch.
How do you book?
You can either join one of the regular Friday sessions or gather a group of 5 or more friends together and I’ll tailor a day to suit you.
Charlie Codrington
GRAVEL COURSE DETAILS:
https://hiddentrackscycling.co.uk/collections/skills-sessions
